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THE STRANGE WOMAN: Hedy Lamarr is very alluring in this sordid romantic saga based on the book by Ben Ames Williams. She plays Jenny, a lusty, sociopathic lass in the wilds of 18th Century Bangor, Maine, who uses her beauty to snare a local, rich, middle-aged businessman (Gene Lockhart). She then seduces his weak-willed son (Louis Hayward) and later goes after John (George Sanders), a tall, dark, handsome woodsman engaged to her friend, Mae (Hillary Brooke). For a period piece made in the 1940s, this film is briskly paced, action-packed, and unusually erotic, courtesy the assured direction of low-budget genius Edgar G. Ulmer (DETOUR, BLUEBEARD) in one of his rare big-budget projects. Highlights include a forbidden embrace amid a raging lightning storm, and Jenny allowing herself to be beaten by her alcoholic father (Dennis Hoey), and then showing off her whip marks to arouse Mr. Poster. ALL ABOUT EVE fans will delight in seeing their Addison De Witt (Sanders) looking uncomfortably overeducated in the part of a robust New England woodsman.

DISHONORED LADY: An intense drama that explores the secret turmoil of an art director of a glamorous women’s magazine who desperately trying to outrun her true identity while under suspicion of murder.